Debby
Debby was last recorded in 2016, when 8 babies were given it; 9,697 Americans have been recorded with it between 1923 and 2016 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 7,940 Americans named Debby and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (82% of everyone recorded); the median is 67 years old and half are between 62 and 70.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Debby by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Debby mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Debby is “a diminutive of the female given name Deborah.”
From Deborah + -y.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Debby?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #12,054, in 2016; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
890 babies in 1959, the peak
Debby peaked in 1959, when 890 girls were given it, #309 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 8 | #12,054 | under 0.01 |
| 2015 | 5 | #17,116 | under 0.01 |
| 2014 | 7 | #13,427 | under 0.01 |
| 2013 | 5 | #17,215 | under 0.01 |
| 2012 | 13 | #8,754 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 7 | #13,845 | under 0.01 |
| 2009 | 6 | #15,727 | under 0.01 |
| 2008 | 6 | #15,896 | under 0.01 |
| 2007 | 5 | #18,331 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 8 | #12,699 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (88)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 5 | #17,156 | under 0.01 |
| 2004 | 10 | #10,097 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 7 | #12,738 | under 0.01 |
| 2002 | 9 | #10,430 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 6 | #13,967 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 11 | #8,705 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 10 | #8,947 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 8 | #10,343 | under 0.01 |
| 1997 | 10 | #8,509 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 15 | #6,136 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 9 | #8,944 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 10 | #8,283 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 15 | #6,024 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 15 | #6,082 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 17 | #5,462 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 18 | #5,102 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 15 | #5,611 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 11 | #6,757 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 14 | #5,358 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 15 | #5,018 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 21 | #3,880 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 25 | #3,344 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 21 | #3,710 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 26 | #3,274 | 0.02 |
| 1981 | 35 | #2,623 | 0.02 |
| 1980 | 33 | #2,757 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 44 | #2,220 | 0.03 |
| 1978 | 44 | #2,131 | 0.03 |
| 1977 | 38 | #2,349 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 27 | #2,813 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 38 | #2,205 | 0.03 |
| 1974 | 52 | #1,739 | 0.04 |
| 1973 | 64 | #1,485 | 0.04 |
| 1972 | 60 | #1,545 | 0.04 |
| 1971 | 87 | #1,267 | 0.05 |
| 1970 | 110 | #1,085 | 0.06 |
| 1969 | 106 | #1,067 | 0.06 |
| 1968 | 120 | #947 | 0.07 |
| 1967 | 157 | #795 | 0.10 |
| 1966 | 183 | #728 | 0.11 |
| 1965 | 262 | #591 | 0.15 |
| 1964 | 332 | #542 | 0.18 |
| 1963 | 433 | #466 | 0.22 |
| 1962 | 503 | #434 | 0.26 |
| 1961 | 590 | #399 | 0.29 |
| 1960 | 668 | #372 | 0.33 |
| 1959 | 890 | #309 | 0.44 |
| 1958 | 795 | #333 | 0.40 |
| 1957 | 661 | #355 | 0.32 |
| 1956 | 461 | #424 | 0.23 |
| 1955 | 384 | #460 | 0.20 |
| 1954 | 303 | #509 | 0.16 |
| 1953 | 277 | #514 | 0.15 |
| 1952 | 244 | #548 | 0.13 |
| 1951 | 233 | #552 | 0.13 |
| 1950 | 212 | #572 | 0.12 |
| 1949 | 203 | #580 | 0.12 |
| 1948 | 207 | #582 | 0.12 |
| 1947 | 125 | #767 | 0.07 |
| 1946 | 75 | #960 | 0.05 |
| 1945 | 36 | #1,334 | 0.03 |
| 1944 | 28 | #1,551 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 26 | #1,674 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 29 | #1,538 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 14 | #2,288 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 7 | #3,581 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 14 | #2,225 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 11 | #2,619 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 10 | #2,776 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 15 | #2,057 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 6 | #3,846 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 5 | #4,419 | under 0.01 |
| 1933 | 11 | #2,573 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 12 | #2,530 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 7 | #3,560 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 5 | #4,702 | under 0.01 |
| 1929 | 7 | #3,752 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 5 | #5,114 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Debby a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Debby has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 88 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Debby: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Debby, and how old are they?
7,940 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 82% of the 9,697 Americans ever recorded as Debby. The median Debby alive today is 67 years old; half are between 62 and 70.
The 2020 Census counted 8,026 people named Debby (8,006 women and girls, 20 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 8,468 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 97 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 6,130 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,300 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 274 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 120 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 25 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Debby born?
The states with the most babies named Debby are California, New York and Ohio, with 28% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,000 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| New York | 580 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 552 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 539 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Texas | 444 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Michigan | 433 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Pennsylvania | 391 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Indiana | 268 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Missouri | 244 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Washington | 225 | not ranked | 1.4× |
Where Debby is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Debby is most over-represented in Washington: since 1923 it was given 1.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Debby with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 205,851 babies since 1880, Debby is the second most given (4.7% of them). In 2025 none of their 24 babies recorded by SSA was a Debby (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Debby
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Debby and names like it
- Compare Debby and DebbieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sDebby peaked in 1959.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Debby since 1910.
- The top names of 1959The year the most babies were named Debby.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Debby alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.